Christian A. Blackert was born 1854 in Landefeld Germany, died 1893 in Annawan, Illinois. In the summer of 1880, he came to America with his wife Anna Martha Reuter. They settled on a farm north of Mineral, Illinois. In 1884, they bought and moved to a farm north of Annawan, just west of the "horse bend' south of Kedron. When Christian died in 1893, he left the widow Anna Martha with 8 children, the oldest of who was 15. In the spring of 1907, Anna Martha sold the farm and moved to 313 East South Street in Geneseo, Illinois.